Monday, November 07, 2016

SUMMARY: Two years ago, two best friends with Down syndrome came up with an idea that would change their lives. With the dream of making a zombie movie, Sam Suchmann and Mattie Zufelt raised nearly $70,000 in a Kickstarter campaign, and “Spring Break Massacre” was born. The NewsHour's Mike Melia meets up with the creative duo to learn what they're up to now.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): Now a special treat on this Halloween, a story about the magic of movies and zombies.

The NewsHour‘s Mike Melia has our update.

MIKE MELIA (NewsHour): You don't often get to see someone's dreams come true, even if they are the stuff of nightmares.

We first met Sam Suchmann and Mattie Zufelt two years ago, when all they had was a big idea and a Kickstarter to make an epic zombie movie.

MATTIE ZUFELT, Filmmaker: It's going to be like between horror and comedy, drama, same kind of thing.

SAM SUCHMANN, Filmmaker: We have every average, everyday teen drama, like love triangles, or like heartbreaks or betrayals or people living like…

MATTIE ZUFELT: Or it could be like teenagers' secret life.

SAM SUCHMANN: What I do to Mattie is, I leave him behind.

MATTIE ZUFELT: Yes.

SAM SUCHMANN: And that is not cool. So…

MATTIE ZUFELT: No. You can't leave a friend behind.

MIKE MELIA: The best friends — both have Down syndrome — first met at the Special Olympics in grade school.

From his living room in Rhode Island, Sam told us a very personal reason for wanting to make the movie.

SAM SUCHMANN: My whole life, I feel like I never fit in anywhere or had a voice, but someday, that will change. I will be somebody. And that day is today.

MIKE MELIA: In many ways, Sam was right. Their lives were about to change in dramatic ways.

Their Kickstarter raised nearly $70,000. They gathered together family, friends, along with film industry and special effects professionals. It was all happening.

We got invited on set for a day, when they were filming a party scene on a yacht. Sam and Mattie originally wanted a cruise ship, but this was close. Peter Farrelly, behind hits like “Dumb and Dumber” and “Something About Mary,” was also on set.

I was transformed into a zombie — but more on that later.

The day before, “The Jersey Shore‘s” D.J. Pauly D. was there. He had been at the top of Sam and Mattie's wish list for celebrity cameos. In some ways, they were becoming famous.

About Me

I am Retired U.S. Navy (22yrs) and a Vietnam Veteran. After my Navy retirement I was in the computer related industry, now retired. In 2000 I was a registered Republican and voted for George W. Bush. Six months of having Bush in the Whitehouse forced me to re-evaluate my political stance. I had always thought of myself as a Moderate Republican, but was a Republican by "default" NOT because of close examination of the GOP. Due to what has happened in America since 2000, I now consider myself a progressive, and registered as a Non-Affiliated voter.

THE RESISTANCE

*Anti-First Amendment policies that attempt to turn America into a theocracy by enshrining ANY religious belief as law.

* Any attempt to suppress human or Constitutional rights.

* Any law or policy that supports discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, race/color, gender, sexual orientation, or any law that does NOT support Equal Treatment under the law.

*Any law or policy that attempts to suppress Freedom of the Press or Free Speech.

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